Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Chain 10’s design or this restaurant The Green Isle is located in the south of Kaohsiung and is close to the 60-meter wide Shidai Avenue. The land is about 1800 ping, which allowed the team to create a relatively complete living environment encompassing both a rest and dining space.

The Green Isle won a recent 2021 Green Good Design® Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.

The project occupies a wide stretch of land, but unfortunately, the nighttime lighting of this area in Kaohsiung is insufficient.

With the increasing awareness of climate change, one of the most common problems in urban areas is the “urban heat island.”

Here, the architect combined the trees, organic building, landscape pool, and modularized eating spaces, hope to move in a green direction.

At the restaurant’s main entrance, the team deliberately created a bridge through the pool to accentuate guests’ mood as they enter. The nearly 120-meter landscape pool gives a strong impression of the building and creates a connection between the building and the water.

Surrounding the property are over 250 large trees further reducing the carbon emissions from the project. Furthermore, lots of greenery helps to filter out the light waves.

Materials need to be chosen because they are sustainable and reusable.

The architect chose easily sourceable and replaceable materials; ending up with a modest total of 75% usage of recyclable materials. By keeping the components of the projects modularized, detachable, recyclable and variable.

“This way we can achieve a spectacular looking building inside and out while protecting the environment,” states Chain 10.

The space ratio is based mainly on the service function line and the natural light that enters the indoor space. There is always the possibility that a large-sized dining space is prone to a lack of light, and that indirectly causes indoor air convection problems.

The glass frame is placed in an ideal location, along with some greenery. Making the space floor a permeable layer of the soil and increasing the possibility of natural light entering the indoor space.

Contrasting the artificial light source with the natural light source helps blur the boundary between the interior and exterior spaces.

The sense of existence is reflected in the changes in light and shadow, which helps to awaken every moment’s cherished position in our lives.

In the end, it may look like a typical restaurant at first glance, but it is paving the way in terms of sustainability and doing its best to reduce its carbon footprint in Taiwan.

Project: The Green Isle
Architects: Chain10 Architecture & Interior Design Institute
Client: Withheld
Photographers: Moooten Studio / Qimin Wu